Wabash and Erie Canal Trail

Dogs

Features Birding · Historical Significance

Notable features: Historic canal alignment, diverse wooded area, proximity to
Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve, interpretive and historical significance.

Mostly flat with minimal elevation

Wabash & Erie Canal Trail (Wesselman Park): A natural hiking trail follows the original berm side of the canal. You can see a shallow ravine where the canal once flowed.

The Wabash and Erie Canal was completed from Toledo to Evansville in 1853, making Evansville the last major terminus to come online. By that time, northern stretches like Fort Wayne–Lafayette–Terre Haute had already been in operation for years and had established trade patterns around the canal. Because the Evansville section only had a few years of full use before serious decline set in, its "canal era" was compressed into less than a decade.